Good luck getting an Uber with Pope Francis in town

If you're in New York or Philadelphia, as excited as you might be to see Pope Francis, to buy a pope-shaped bobblehead and tell your children that you were there for his historic trip, you still have to, you know, survive the next couple of days. The streets that aren't closed will be at a bumper-to-bumper standstill, public transportation will be in its own category of hellacious and not everyone wants to pay $95 to fly from one side of Manhattan to the other. Even Uber doesn't quite know how to handle the overcrowded chaos – or how high its surge prices could go.

Uber spokesperson Taylor Bennett told Philadelphia Magazine:

"Because surge pricing is a result of real-time supply and demand, we can't predict whether it will [be activated] and to what level it may be in effect. [We] do expect a large influx of riders and will do our best to meet that demand and be as reliable as possible."

Uber has issued some guidelines for riders who still want (or need) to get around in New York City, posting a list of road closures and advising riders to share their rides using the UberPOOL carpool option. In Philadelphia, it has promised "to be there to ensure you have a safe and reliable ride" to see the Pope.

Oh really? Because despite the increase in potential riders – or because of it – a number of Uber drivers are opting to stay off the roads during the Pope's visit. Philadelphia Magazine spoke to "dozens" of UberX drivers and none of them were planning to drive during the weekend. One driver, who asked not to be identified, said:

"You've got all these roads closed. I don't understand where I can go and where I can't go. And you're going to have a ton of people here from out of town who have absolutely no idea where they are going and who don't understand you when you tell them that you can only get eight blocks away from where they want to go. That's a lot of 1-star ratings."

And if surge pricing does go into effect, there isn't a limit on how high those rate increases could go (except in emergency situations). "With fewer drivers than normal, the rates could become apocalyptic," Philly Mag warns.

So how do you feel about biking? Or walking? Or just telling your children that you watched the Pope on TV?